UK government to launch public inquiry into deadly Southport attack

The British government will launch a public inquiry into a knife attack last summer that left three young girls dead, a senior official announced Monday. The announcement came after 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to the killings during the attack on July 29 in Southport, a coastal town in Merseyside. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the victims' families "needed answers" about the lead-up to the attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town.

Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar were murdered in the stabbing attack by Rudakubana, a British citizen born in Cardiff, Wales, who was 17 at the time of the attack.

"The perpetrator was in contact with a range of different state agencies throughout his teenage years," said Cooper.

"He also had contact with the police, the courts, the Youth Justice system, social services and mental health services. Yet between them, those agencies failed to identify the terrible risk and danger to others that he posed."

Cooper said this horrendous attack will leave a "lasting impact" on the country.

"We need more...answers on how he came to be so dangerous, including through a public inquiry that can get to the truth about what happened and what needs to change."

Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to address the nation on the attack early Tuesday.

In a statement early Monday, Starmer welcomed the conviction of Rudakubana but added that it is also a "moment of trauma" for the nation and there are grave questions to answer as to "how the state failed in its ultimate duty to protect these young girls."

"Britain will rightly demand answers. And we will leave no stone unturned in that pursuit," he added.